Fedor Emelianenko's Loss in MMA

Fedor Emelianenko is arguably the best MMA fighter in the world today. There are only two fighters that can contend his claim to the pound-for-pound crown: Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre. While both of these men are great fighters, they both have significant and embarrassing losses in their careers. Georges against Matt Serra and Silva against Chonan and Takase. Fedor Emelianenko, on the other hand, only has one loss on his record - one that is hotly contended, and that many people believe should have been a no-contest.

To understand the nature of Fedor's loss, we need some background on the fight and the promotion for which he was fighting. He was taking place in a tournament in the Japanese Rings promotion, which has an odd set of rules in its own right. It didn't allow ground striking, nor would it allow fighters to throw elbows. During tournaments, Rings would not allow draws or no contests, as a single fighter had to advance through the ranks.

When Fedor Emelianenko fought Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in the Rings tournament, he was struck with an illegal, although accidental, elbow early in the fight. This opened up a large cut on Fedor's face that required the fight to be stopped. After being reviewed by a doctor, Fedor Emelianenko was not allowed to continue. Due to the rules of Rings, the fight was declared a loss for Fedor and a win for Kohsaka. Many fans point out that this is just a technicality and that Fedor did not actually lose the fight since it was stopped due to an illegal blow. Under normal circumstance, it would be ruled a no-contest. With that said, many people consider Fedor to be undefeated in MMA. As such, he is the only fighter in a major promotion that is undefeated with more than 20 wins.

Fedor would later go on to avenge his loss, beating Kohsaka into the ground for the first ten minutes of the fight. At the end of the round, the doctor decided that Kohsaka was unable to continue and called the fight off, indicating a TKO victory for Fedor. It is a strange coincidence that both fighters have wins over each other due to doctor stoppages, although Fedor Emelianenko's win is inarguably more legitimate.

So when will Fedor finally lose? It's hard to say, but a lot of Pride fighters have had a hard time transitioning into the UFC. I think that if he does move to the UFC if negotiations with Strikeforce break down, that he might suffer his first loss within the next two or three years. Then again, that depends entirely on how hard Emelianenko decides to train: he hasn't been training too hard for his past couple fights, and it has shown. That's what happens when you're the best fighter in the world with only one loss.